bullet

From Middle French boulette.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bʊl.ɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊlɪt

bullet (plural bullets)

1. A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed.
2. (informal) An entire round of unfired ammunition for a firearm, including the projectile, the cartridge casing, the propellant charge, etc.
3. Ammunition for a sling or slingshot which has been manufactured for such use.
4. (typography) A printed symbol in the form of a solid circle, (•), often used in lieu of numbers for marking items in a list. (see also bulleted)
5. (banking, finance) A large scheduled repayment of the principal of a loan; a balloon payment.
6. A rejection letter, as for employment, admission to a school or a competition.

   John's not going to any of his top schools; he got a bullet from the last of them yesterday.

7. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): (slang) One year of prison time
8. (slang) An ace (the playing card).
9. (figuratively) Anything that is projected extremely fast.
   • 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.

10. (in attributive use) Very fast (speedy).

    bullet train

    bullet chess

11. (obsolete) A small ball.
    • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

      Would you not suppose these persons had been whispered, by the Master of the Ceremonies, the promise of some momentous destiny? and that this lukewarm bullet on which they play their farces was the bull's-eye and centrepoint of all the universe?

12. (obsolete) A cannonball.
    • Stow

      A ship before Greenwich […] shot off her ordnance, one piece being charged with a bullet of stone.

13. (fishing) A plumb or sinker.
14. (obsolete) The fetlock of a horse.
15. (Ireland, particularly in Northern Ireland) The heavy projectile thrown in a game of road bowling.

• (projectile shot from a gun): cap (slang), pill (slang), slug (slang)

• bulletin
• bulletproof

bullet (third-person singular simple present bullets, present participle bulleting, simple past and past participle bulleted)

1. (transitive, informal) To draw attention to (text) by, or as if by, placing a graphic bullet in front of it.
   • 2000, Merriam-Webster, Inc, Merriam-Webster's collegiate encyclopedia‎, page x:

     For instance, in the article on Tim Berners-Lee, we have bulleted "World Wide Web"

   • 2004, Richard P. Pohanish, HazMat data: for first response, transportation, storage, and security‎, page x:

     The author has bulleted this section to make it easier to read and included important notes and warnings.

   • 2008, Deanna Davis, The law of attraction in action, page 42:

     I had mind-mapped everything from my business to my baby girl's needs and had bulleted my talking points, brownie points, and breaking points for just about every life area

2. (intransitive, informal) To speed, like a bullet.

   Their debut started slow, but bulleted to number six in its fourth week.

3. (transitive, informal) To make a shot, especially with great speed.

   He bulleted a header for his first score of the season.

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN

Borrowed from English bullet, from Middle French [Term?].

• IPA^(key): /bulət/, [ˈb̥uləd̥]

bullet (plural indefinite bullets, no definite forms)

1. (typography) bullet (a printed symbol, e.g. •, used for marking items in a list) [from 1994]

• punkttegn

bullet

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of bullō

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpuːlleh(t)/

būllet

1. inflection of buollit:
   1. third-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person singular past indicative
   3. second-person plural imperative